The Russellville Lady Cyclones have left a wake of Class 7A softball heavy hitters stunned as they gear up for their 7A/6A-Central Conference opener against Mount Saint Mary Academy on Friday.

Russellville opened the season by beating Van Buren, two-time defending 7A state champion Bryant and an 11-1 win over Cabot, the 7A state runner-up.

Head coach Harley Sisson said he scheduled the difficult games to expose his own team's weaknesses before the conference season began. He wasn't concerned with whether his players would win or lose, but rather whether they learned from the experience.

“The main thing you do in nonconference is you look at kids,” he said. “You want to see if they can handle pressure. It's kind of like taking a test. After the game you look at the test, you reteach what needs to be retaught and then you retest.”

Sisson went into the preseason fully prepared to take the losses if it would benefit the team — but the losses never came. The Lady Cyclones rose to every occasion and stand on the verge of being the dominate force in the 7A/6A-Central.

“Trying to schedule some of those better teams early is something I’m always going to try to do,” Sisson said. “People ask why we don’t play easier teams but that gives you a false sense of security. The main thing is getting better every ballgame. You might lose one of those games, but if you’re getting better I don’t look at it as a loss.”

Even though Russellville won its games, the Lady Cyclones were still tested. Sisson explained he still saw areas that needed improvement as well as areas with marked improvement over the three-game stint.

“Our biggest thing, the thing we've been working on since October, is hitting and producing runs,” Sisson said. “And we saw that start to happen against Cabot. That was huge to see our bats and to have as many different players producing in our lineup. We're really excited about that. We have to keep our production up. Our goal is to score at least five runs per game.

“Mount Saint Mary is one of those unpredictable teams. They'll play tough on year, but the next they might not play quite as tough. Every team we play, we are treating it like it's a state playoff game. We're not going to overlook anyone. We're going to approach it with importance and urgency. We've got to win this game.”